Jacob Ben Israel is a former recurring character on Glee. the school gossip source and a senior at William McKinley High School. He runs an active blog and interviews many of the school's biggest names. He first appears in Showmance as a member of the Celibacy Club. Since Season Two, he has been starting off the season interviewing the Glee kids from New Directions and to see what they've been doing over the summer, so he can update his blog. However, he didn't during the Season Five premiere as it was the first season to not start a new school year.

He is portrayed by Josh Sussman.

Contents

Biography

Jacob is first seen in a Celibacy Club meeting. He says that he has developed dangerous feelings after constantly being tempted with images of girls and sex around him, and shows shock when Rachel tells the club that girls want sex just as much as guys do. After New Directions finishes their performance of Push It, Jacob is the first one to start cheering. (Showmance)

He is shown interviewing Rachel. He suddenly stops and orders her to show him her bra in exchange for a good review. After she declines, Sandy Ryerson walks in ready for his interview. Jacob quickly packs up, not wanting to interview someone who is a proclaimed pedophile. He then again asks Rachel to remove her clothes, saying all the great actresses do it. Mr. Ryerson follows Jacob out of the room, telling him he has no problem with nudity and about his planned production of Equus. (The Rhodes Not Taken)

Jacob is shown flirting with Rachel, then threatens to post on his blog about her crush on Finn Hudson and Quinn Fabray's pregnancy. Rachel then bribes him with pair of her underwear, but he complains when she gives him panties with price tags on them. During a locker check, Sue discovers Rachel's underwear in his locker, and she questions his gender mockingly. He then admits the granny panties were a bribe and tells her about Quinn's pregnancy. She then makes him run the story. He is later shown apologizing to Rachel. (Throwdown)

Jacob interviewing Sue about nationals

He is shown watching the Cheerios perform and interviewing Sue, later getting his tape recorder taken away. Jacob is later shown wanting to try out for the Cheerios, only to be rejected by Sue before he could perform anything. (Wheels)

He becomes a temporary member of New Directions after Finn storms out of practice because he found out Quinn is actually pregnant with Puck's baby. Jacob is needed to fill the requirement of twelve members performing and is told not to sing and just sway in the back. Jacob attempted to massage Rachel's neck on the bus despite her pushing him away. He at first is shown enjoying the performances of And I Am Telling You I'm Not Going and Proud Mary by the Jane Addams Academy Choir, but Mike angrily elbows him and tells him to stop. After the performance, when Jacob finds out about the other teams cheating, Emma tells Will over the phone that she thinks Jacob wet himself. Once Finn comes back, Jacob states that he only came to Sectionals to get in Rachel's pants. He stays around for the club's performance and is especially keen when Rachel leant over Emma and sang directly to him during Don't Rain on My Parade and is shown with the club listening in on the judges. (Sectionals)

In Laryngitis, he tells Puck that he has lost his bad boy image, and orders his friends to throw him into a dumpster. After Puck begins dating Mercedes, Jacob informs Puck that his 'cool-o-meter' is off the charts, and that he is popular again. Jacob offers him his lunch money, but Puck instead orders him to get an iced coffee for Mercedes. He is later seen being tossed into the dumpster. (Laryngitis)

Jacob is seen by his locker when a group of Twilight fans, among them Lauren Zizes, are behaving like Vampires, and to get Robert Pattinson's attention they attack Jacob, causing him to scream. (Theatricality)

After Will causes Sue to feel depressed, she gives up the Cheerios' chances to compete in nationals. This causes chaos amongst the Cheerios. Brittany is seen clinging on to Jacob as she tries to woo him. (Funk)

The episode Audition opens with Jacob interviewing Glee Club members, asking them random, inappropriate questions. These questions were also criticism that the show had taken (such as Matthew Morrison's rapping and the fact they are a "Glorified Karaoke Club"). We also find out that he has started running a new blog, dedicated to New Directions. He calls his first segment Glee's Big Gay Summer. (Audition)

Sue catches Jacob masturbating in the Library

In Britney/Brittany, when Rachel appears at school wearing a revealing outfit, Jacob asks Finn what he wants in exchange for Rachel, offering to kill his parents and give him his house. He is later caught by Sue, while masturbating to Rachel's image in the library. He goes to her office and sits on a stool leaving a naked butt stain. While New Directions perform Toxic at a school event, Jacob gets very turned on along with Lauren and has an orgasm, and grabs a random guy's butt, only to get knocked out. When Sue pulls the fire alarm he is carried out by group of students, unconscious. (Britney/Brittany)

Jacob is part of Sue's "Heckling Club," along with Azimio and Becky. During the night of the benefit, they boo Tina off the stage with their heckling, only to have Quinn come out and give them taffy to keep them quiet. They do not heckle during Mike's dance. During intermission, Holly gives them a pep talk, which results in them leaving the concert. Before leaving, Jacob asks Holly to wait for him.
(A Night of Neglect)

While he is not seen in Born This Way, his blog is mentioned, Lauren shows that Quinn Fabray's campaign is up 40% after her secret identity is revealed. (Born This Way)

After joining the Muckrakers Club, Azimio covered Jacob's face in toothpaste.
After happily refusing to comment, Jacob asks if she would like to make a comment on the fact that he looked up the IP address of the person who posted that rumor, which turned out to be her. Santana states that her computer was stolen, and that her and Dave are going strong and are very excited about the prom king and queen campaign. Jacob finally asks is she in love with Dave, and are they "soulmates," so to speak, which she agrees to. (Rumors)

Jacob (with a new look) interviews the members of the Glee Club, asking them what they are going to do when they graduate. While interviewing Rachel and Kurt, he keeps his microphone up for further response from Rachel while Kurt tries to do the same with Rachel. Also appears during Puck's flashback, when Lauren broke-up with him, he walks behind them, watching, and Lauren very quickly looks at him. He is also the person that officially starts the food fight and records it with his camcorder. (The Purple Piano Project)

He returns in I Kissed a Girl covering the senior class presidential action for his blog. He says that Brittany is winning in his online polls and that Kurt will definitely lose. (I Kissed a Girl)

In The New Rachel, Jacob interviews the New Directions after their recent Nationals win. This season, his Jewfro is noticeably shorter to the point of non-existence. He asks the New Directions about who would become the new star now that Rachel is gone. He talks to Sam, Tina, Blaine, Artie, and Brittany. During Tina's interview, it is revealed that she broke up with Mike because they couldn't handle a long distant relationship. When Tina admits it, Jacob places his hand over her shoulder, indicating he might have a mini-crush on Tina. (The New Rachel)

After Brittany attempts to shave her hair off, Jacob tries to interview her in the halls. Brittany eventually loses it and grabs an umbrella beating Jacob repeatedly with it in the halls. (Britney 2.0)

Jacob appears for the first time since Britney 2.0, although only in a dream sequence. He appears in Rachel's nightmare with Karofsky, Sue, Becky, Kurt, Santana, Tina, Blaine, Sam and Mercedes, which is just before her opening night of Funny Girl. He is sitting beside David Karofsky He watches her sing Lovefool. This is the last time we see Jacob Ben Israel on the show. (Opening Night)

Personality

Jacob is a stereotypical nerd and also the school gossip. He is highly obsessed with Rachel and the other girls of the glee club, doing almost anything to be with them. He has a blog that is read by many of the school's students and is believed to have several Twitter accounts. He may not be popular, but he knows his way around the social stratosphere.

Relationships

Jacob has intense sexual feelings for Rachel, and has referred to her as "the hottest girl in the school." It is obvious that Rachel does not feel anything back – she is clearly disgusted with his inappropriate behaviour, but that doesn't stop him from trying to win her approval. He joined New Directions to fill the twelfth member requirement during Sectionals but tells Finn that it was only to get Rachel to like him and get in her pants.

In The New Rachel, he interviews Tina about the new Rachel of the club and her break-up with Mike. When Tina speaks about being single and her tattoo, Jacob places his hand on her shoulder as Tina shakes it off with a disgusted face, indicating that Jacob might have had a mini-crush on Tina or imply it as a joke.

Since Season Two, he started off the season premiere episode with an interview with the Glee kids. However, he didn't during the Season Five premiere, since it was the first season to not start a new school year.

He cut part of his "Jewfro" off, as seen in the beginning of Season Four.

He shares the same name with another character on the show, Jake Puckerman.

Jacob Ben Israel seems to be a caricature of Internet reviewers.

Even though he wasn't supposed to appear in Season Five, he made an appearance in Opening Night.